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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES
A. Review of Related Literature
In this chapter, the researcher will explicate several theories through
reviewing some literatures related to this study. This theoretical construct
deals with three main areas: Optimism, students speaking achievement, and
the first-year student.
1. Optimism
a. Definition of Optimism
Optimists are people that hope the good things are happen to them.
Optimism is the opposite of pessimism, while pessimism is a feeling of
helplessness. In the Oxford dictionary optimism is believe that good
things will happen.14 The optimist students hope to be able to face their
difficulties of study and find the best solution for them. According to
Seligman in Gufron and Rini, states that optimism is an overall view, see
a good thing, think positively and easy to give meaning to themselves.
Individual who are optimistic are be able to produce something better
than the past, not afraid of failure, and trying to still challenge another try
when failed again.15
14 Oxford Dictionary15 M. Nur Ghufron, Rini Risnawati, Teori-Teori Psikologi (Yogyakarta: Ar Ruzz, 2010), p. 96.
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Scheier and Carver have defined optimism as a generalized
expectancy that good as opposed to bad outcomes will generally occur
when confronted with problems across important life domains. It is a
strong expectation that despite the inevitable setbacks and frustrations,
events and experiences will eventually turn out all right. In general
optimism is used to denote a positive attitude and is a part of positive
psychology. Optimism can be temperamental, that is, some people by
nature are more positive about life, but at the same time it can also be
learned with the right type of experiences. According to the concept of
learned optimism, proposed by Seligman, optimism can be enhanced by
selecting achievable goals. Optimistic statements are usually based on
logical and concrete facts and depend upon the explanatory styles of a
person. Attributions to temporary, unstable, controllable and specific
causes vis-a-vise permanent, stable, uncontrollable and universal causes
for setbacks and failures relate to optimism and pessimism respectively.16
According to Golemen that cited by Ghufron and Rini saw the
optimism through the view of emotional quotient, that is someone’s self
defense in order to not fall to the foolishness, desperation, and depression
16 Indoo Singh, Ajeya Jha, Anxiety, Optimism and Academic Achievement among Students of PrivateMedical and Engineering Colleges: A Comparative Study, Department of Management Studies,Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim Manipal University, Sikkim, India, vol. Vol. 3, No. 1;2013, no. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology.
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when they face any difficulties.17 So that, the optimists students do not
easily give up and be able to survive in a difficult situation in their
learning process. The smart and healthy students tend to be who have an
optimistic attitude in themselves.
b. The Characteristic of Optimist Person
In 1995, Henry Givray, the president & CEO SmithBucklin
Corporation, found the document written by Alan Loy McGinnis’s which
published in 1993 by the title The Power of Optimism. This text
reinforced some of him own beliefs. As importantly, it gave him some
insight regarding principles to be practiced and values to be lived. Below
are those 12 traits of some Henry’s own thoughts and interpretations.
Below are the characteristic of optimists18:
1. Are seldom surprised by trouble
Tough-minded optimists recognize that problems are part of life.
However, they see themselves as able and willing to be problem
solvers, by developing and presenting ideas and options. Tough-
minded optimists know what they have to go even in the difficult
ways.
17 M. Nur Ghufron, Rini Risnawati, Teori-Teori Psikologi, p. 96.18Henry Givray. “12 characteristic of tough-mindedOptimists”http://leadersforum2011.smithbucklin.com/Portals/4/content/2011/12_Characteristics_of_Tough_Minded_Optimists.pdf. accessed on Friday , April 29, 2016, 12:43 PM
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2. Look for partial solutions
Tough-minded optimists don’t wait until everything is perfectly in
order or known before they take action. They know that beginning is
half the doing. They aren’t crippled by a need for perfection. Instead
they are willing to take small steps toward eventual success. Tough-
minded optimists inherently understand that thoughtful action is far
better than inaction or analysis paralysis, which solves nothing.
3. Believe they have control over their futures
Optimistic thinking inherently boosts self-confidence and
encourages determination. Optimistic people don’t let others’ opinions
solely determine how they view the current or future state of affairs.
They know they have a say in both the path and the destination.
4. Allow for regular renewal
Henry interprets this as mental, social, and physical renewal.
Mental renewal is about continuous learning, self-reflection and
personal growth. Social renewal is about making a special effort to get
acquainted with new people as well as nurturing existing relationships.
Physical renewal is of course about being and staying healthy by
eating right and exercising.
5. Interrupt their negative trains of thought
Human beings probably have negative thoughts or self-doubt no
matter how naturally optimistic or positive we may be. The key is to
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work at being self-aware while constantly monitoring our response to
other people, circumstances, conditions on the ground, or new
information. Negative thoughts often distort our understanding of
problems or issues. Distortion impedes our ability to find solutions and
plot action plans. Moreover, by blocking or shedding negative
thoughts, prejudices, preconceptions and false judgments, we become
more open to give trust and the benefit of doubt; this in turn builds
trust with others.
6. Heighten their powers of appreciation
This is about possessing and demonstrating a genuine and heartfelt
“thank you” approach, both in words and in actions. Optimists tend to
see the good in people, the positives in situations and the beauty
around them. This in turn fosters trust and invites a positive response
from others. This is especially helpful during difficult and trying times.
7. Use their imaginations to rehearse success
Pessimists view the world through a prism of danger, angst and
failure. Tough-minded optimists picture a desired state of the future
and are confident to go about and make it happen. They develop
positive images to minimize or replace the natural anxiety of
uncertainty. But tough-minded optimists are also realistic in their
visualizations. They are comfortably able to adjust downward, as
needed, to make their “images” more achievable.
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8. Are cheerful even when they can’t be happy
This is especially critical for anyone in a position of authority or
responsibility who aspires to be an effective leader. In fact, during
trying times a leader’s optimism lifts spirits, gives hope and builds
strength in others. Following this principle doesn’t mean you should be
artificial or adopt a what-me-worry, head-in-the-sand persona. It
simply means that tough-minded optimists always have the “bigger
picture” in mind. They recognize that their attitude can and will have a
profound impact on the people around them, which can either enable
or inhibit performance, results, and problem solving.
9. Believe they have an almost unlimited capacity for stretching
Tough-minded optimists believe that they are on a perpetual
journey of learning, growth and self-discovery – and they act
accordingly. Their attitude is “my personal best is yet to come.” They
are constantly pushing, stretching, reflecting, leveraging to grow,
finding new ways to do things and developing themselves. This is not
about Pollyanna positive thinking but more about recognizing that the
mind, heart and soul offer limitless opportunities and potential.
10. Build lots of love into their lives
Cynical or negative people knowingly or unknowingly isolate
themselves and end up being alone much of the time. During times of
great difficulty and challenge, personally or professionally, tough-
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minded optimists recognize the power of love and friendship to heal,
nurture and renew. McGinnis wrote “love nurtures optimism.” The
reverse is true – hostility leads to cynicism and pessimism.
11. Like to swap good news
How and what we talk about affects us mentally, emotionally and
even physically. Sharing success stories generates excitement, builds
confidence, spotlights desired outcomes, boosts morale, and helps
others envision what is possible.
12. Accept what cannot be changed
Even the biggest optimist has to know when to let go.
Perseverance is powerful, but not accepting what cannot be changed
can be costly as other opportunities drift away. Simply stated, tough-
minded optimists ask “is there anything I can do to change the
situation?” If the answer is “no,” they let it go and move on.
c. The advantages of optimism
Positive psychology research has found many advantages of adopting
an optimistic viewpoint. Below are some of them19:
1. Optimists experience less distress than pessimists when dealing with
difficulties in their lives. For example, they suffer much less anxiety
and depression.
19Ilona Boniwell. “Optimism and hope”. http://positivepsychology.org.uk/pp-theory/optimism/32-
optimism-and-hope.html Accessed on Tuesday, April 19, 2016, 11:24:03 PM
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2. Optimists adapt better to negative events (including coronary artery
bypass surgery, breast cancer, abortion, bone marrow transplantation
and AIDS).
3. Optimism is conducive to problem-focused coping, humor, making
plans, positive reframing (putting the situation in the best possible
light) and, when the situation is uncontrollable, to accepting the
situation's reality. Optimists are capable of learning lessons from
negative situations. Thus optimists have a coping advantage over
pessimists.
4. Perhaps surprisingly, optimists don't tend to use denial, whilst
pessimists often attempt to distance themselves from the problem.
Optimists are not simply people who stick their heads in the sand and
ignore threats to their well-being. For example, they attend to health
warnings and usually discover potentially serious problems earlier
rather than later.
5. Optimists exert more continuous effort and tend not to give up,
possibly assuming that the situation can be handled successfully in one
way or another. Pessimists, on the other hand, are far more likely to
anticipate disaster - and, as a result, are more likely to give up.
6. Optimists report more health-promoting behaviors (like eating a
healthy diet or having regular medical check-ups) and enjoy better
physical health than pessimists.
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7. Optimists seem to be more productive in the work place.
More over according to Brenda Schumacher’s journal, she wrote the
benefits of optimism are as follows:
The positive effects of optimism are well documented. Wrosch and
Scheier have studied the importance of optimism and goal adjustment and
found that optimistic individuals manage difficult situations better than do
pessimist. Optimists were more likely than pessimist to use more
problems focused coping strategies as well as additional methods such as
positive reframing, acceptance and humour. Study conducted by Dubow
states that depression was highly correlated with the agreement of low
scores on optimism levels.20 That is, the higher optimism is assumed have
the positive effect on students achievement.
d. The Aspects of Optimism
According to Seligman there are some aspects in the personal individual
in viewing the problem based on explanatory style21. It's all about the way you
interpret something that happens to you. How you think about a positive or
negative event determines a lot. They are:
20 Brenda Schumacher. Assessing the relationship Between Optimism and Academic Success.Athabasca, Alberta. 2006.21 Martin E.P. Seligman, Learned Optimism (New York: Vintage Books A Division of Random House,Inc., 2006), p. 44.
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1. Permanence (Permanence vs. Temporary)
Pessimists believe the causes of the bad events that happen to them
are permanent: The bad events will persist, will always be there to affect
their lives. People who resist helplessness believe the causes of bad
events are temporary. While the optimistic style of explaining good
events is just the opposite of the optimistic style of explaining bad
events.
People who believe good events have permanent causes are more
optimistic than people who believe they have temporary causes.
Optimistic people explain good events to themselves in terms of
permanent causes: traits, abilities, always's. Pessimists name transient
causes: moods, effort, sometimes's.22
2. Pervasive (Specific vs. Universal)
This explanatory style is related to the scope of the event, which
cover universal and specific. The optimists who experience the bad
event will have specific explanation that the bad event is caused of the
specific cause and will never dilating to other event. While the
pessimists regard that the bad event applies to everything in our lives.
For the converse, the optimistic explanatory style for good events is
opposite that for bad events. The optimist believes that bad events have
specific causes, while good events will enhance everything he does; the
22 Ibid., p. 45.
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pessimist believes that bad events have universal causes and that good
events are caused by specific factors.
3. Personalization (Internal vs. External)
When bad things happen, we can blame ourselves (internalize) or
we can blame other people or circumstances (externalize). People who
blame themselves when they fail have low self-esteem as a
consequence. They think they are worthless, talentless, and unlovable.
People who blame external events do not lose self-esteem when bad
events strike. On the whole, they like themselves better than people who
blame themselves do. Low self-esteem usually comes from an internal
style for bad events.
The optimistic style of explaining good events is the opposite of
that used for bad events: It's internal rather than external. People who
believe the cause good things tend to like themselves better than people
who believe good things come from other people or circumstances.23
e. The factor influence optimism
There are some factors that influence the optimism according to the
expert. According to Idham that written in Faizah Noviana thesis
mentioned as follows:24
23 Ibid., p. 49.24 Faizah Noviana Thesis” Hubungan antara Dukungan Sosial dan Optimisme Orang Tua yangMemiliki Anak Tunagrahita Di SLB (Sekolah Luar Biasa) Putra Jaya Malang”. UIN Maulana MalikIbrahim. Malang. 2014
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1. Pessimism, peoples are expected to be more positive, they condemned
pessimism, and to change someone’s pessimism to the optimism they
can plan themselves.
2. The consort experiences with other, the ability to admire and enjoy
things from someone else is become the strong power, so it can help
them in obtaining optimism (Clark in Mc Ginnis, 1995).
3. Prejudice, prejudice is only prejudice; it can be possibility true or not
(Seligman, 2005)
2. Students Speaking Achievement
a. Definition of speaking
Speaking is one of the language skills that learners should master.
Speaking is the most important one, as we know that the goal of using a
language is to communicate. Language is used in the society and speaking
is crucial. Speaking is produced, oral skill. Speaking consists of
producing systematic verbal, utterances to convey meaning. It is able to
be the alternative process of construction meaning that involved the
producing and receiving processing information.25
Everybody has learned their language since they were children,
especially their mother tongue. The process occurs naturally and properly
with a view to communicate in society. Speaking English is difficult to do.
25 Kathleen M Bailey, Practice English Language Teaching: Speaking (New York: San Francisco,2005)
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Talent and much motivation and desire are required to have a good ability
in speaking English26.
b. The Achievement of Speaking
According to Travers achievement is the result of what an individual
has learned from some educational experiences.27 Additionally, De Cecco and
Crawford state that achievement is the expectancy of finding satisfaction in
mastering challenging and difficult performances.28 In addition to that, Smith
and Hudgins say that achievement is to do one’s best, to be successful, to
accomplish tasks requiring skill and effort and to be recognized by authority.29
Besides, Garrison, Kingston, and McDonald in H. M. Sofyan Isnian, S.Pd,
affirm the definition of achievement as the progress pupils make towards the
goals and objectives of the curriculum.30 They then assert further about the
definition that achievement may be the one’s ability or extent of his/her
knowledge in a specific content area. Based on the opinion above it can be
conclude that achievement is the result, the successfulness, the extent or
26 Donald C. Bryant - Karl R. Wallace, 1976, Fundamentals of public speaking , New Jersey: Prentice-hall,Inc.,P. 12.27 Travers, Jhon P, “Fundamental of Educational Psychology”. Scrantom, Pensylvania: Internationaltextbook Company. 197028 De Cecco, Jhon P., and Crawford, William R. “The Psychology of Learning and Instruction.Educational Psychology”. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., EnglewoodsCliffs. 197429 Smith, Louis. M., and Hudgins, Bryce. B. Educational Psychology. “An Application of Social andBehavioral Theory”. New York: Alfred . A. Knopt. 196430 H. M. Sofyan Isnian, S.Pd. The definition of Achievement.(http://hmfofyanisnianspd.blogspot.in/2009/08/ definition-of-achievement.html) accessed on June 21th ,2016.
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ability, and the progress in learning educational indicate in relation with
his/her educational learning.
Student speaking achievement which is gained by the first-year
student is the result of the speaking study during the semester. The lecturers
have their own criteria to value the students’ achievement. Generally, the
achievement component is from performance aspect, affective, and
assignment.
This is the performance assessment rubric from Brown31, some
lecturer uses the criteria bellow, but some of them can omit the some
categories and they sometimes also change the score these all criteria are
apply to earn students’ speaking achievement based on curriculum policy.
Table 1.2 The Speaking Assessment Rubric of Brown
Criteria Very good5
Good4
Fair3
Poor2
Very Poor1
Fluency Hascompletefluency inthelanguagesuch that hisspeech isfullyaccepted byeducatednativespeakers.
Fluently onall levelsnormallypertinent toprofessionalneeds, canparticipatein anyconversation with ahigh degreeof fluency
Can discussthe particularinterest ofcompetencewithreasonableease. Rarelyhas to gropefor words.
Can handlewithconfidencebut not withfacilitymost socialsituations.
(No specificfluencydescription.Refer toother fourlanguageareas forimpliedlevel offluency.
Vocabulary Speech onlevel fully
Canunderstand
Able to speakwith
Hasspeaking
Speakingvocabulary
31 H. douglas brown. LANGUAGE ASSESEMENT: principle and classroom practices. 2011, pp. 212-213
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accepted byeducatednativespeakerincludingbreadth ofvocabularyand idiom,colloquialism,
andparticipatewith a highdegree ofprecision ofvocabulary.
sufficientvocabulary informal andinformalconversations.
vocabularysufficient toexpresshimselfsimply withsomecircumlocutions.
inadequateto expressanythingbut the mostelementaryneeds.
Grammar Equivalentto that of aneducatednativespeakers
Uselanguageaccuratelytoprofessionalneeds, errorin grammarare quiterare
Control ofgrammar isgood. Speakstructuralaccuracy toparticipateeffectively inmost formaland informalconversations.
Can usuallyhandleelementaryconstructionquiteaccuratelybut does nothavethorough orconfidentcontrol ofthegrammar.
Errors ingrammararefrequent,but speakercan beunderstoodby nativespeakers.
Comprehension
Equivalentto that of aneducatednativespeaker.
Canunderstandanyconversation within therange of hisexperience.
Comprehension is quitecomplete at anormal rateof speech.
Can get thegist of mostconversation of non-technicalsubjects.
Within thescope of hisvery limitedlanguageexperience,canunderstandsimplequestionandstatementsif deliveredslowly, byrepetition,orparaphrase
Pronunciation
Equivalentto and fullyaccepted by
Errors inpronunciation are quite
Errors neverinterfere withunderstandin
Accent isintelligiblethough
Errors inpronunciation are
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educationalnativespeakers.
rare. g and rarelydisturb thenativespeaker.Accent maybe obviouslyforeign.
often quitefaulty.
frequent butcan beunderstoodby a nativespeaker.
c. Criteria of speaking assessment
Assessing speaking skills in the classroom has one clear advantage
over assessing listening: speech is observable, recordable, and
measurable. However once the criterion of your assessment move beyond
the phonological level, this advantage quickly disappears as acceptable
responses are more difficult to specify reliably.32
3. The First-year student
First-year students of university can categorized as adult learner
according their age. In other hand, the first-year or young adult student
according to the journal written by Martin M. Chemer said that the transition
from high school to college can cause the stressful life.
Students are divided into three types based on age: young, adolescent,
and adult.33 In this study, the researcher took the object from the first-year
students in which included to adult learners. Hurlock states that adult can be
32 H. Douglas Brown. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (NewYork: Pearson Education, 2001)33 Jeremy Harmer. The Practice of English Language Teaching. (England: Pearson Education Limited,2001), 38
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divided into three periods: Early Adulthood (18-40 years old), Middle
Adulthood (40- 60 years old), and Aging (over 60 years old).34
4. Factors affecting adult EFL learners' oral communication
According to Scumin, all language skills is needed to be learned
and practiced, including to speaking skill, so EFL learners need explicit
instruction in speaking.35 However, in practice, students assumed that they
can develop speaking skill simply by giving them subject to be discussed.
In this discussion, some factors are considered affect oral production,
besides of the factors that facilitate the production of spoken language.
The affects adult English Foreign Language learners’ oral
communications to provide guidance in developing competent speakers of
English are36:
a. Age or maturational constraints
Adult learners’ ability to pronounce the target language fluently
with native-like pronunciation may affect or limit by age. Even if they
can express words and sentences with ideal pronunciation, problems
with prosodic features such as intonation, stress, and other
phonological nuances still cause misunderstandings or lead to
communication breakdown.
34 Respati, Winanti Siwi. Usia Dewasa: Tinjauan Psikologi Perkembangan.(http://winanti5599.blog.esaunggul.ac.id/2010/08/23/usia-dewasa-tinjauan-psikologi-perkembangan/)accessed on April 24th,201635 Seyed Mahdi Araghi, Roya Jafari Amineh, Review of problems of Adult EFL Learners’ (EFL)Speaking.36 Ibid.
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b. Aural medium
Usually, one person speaks, and the other people respond through
attending by means of the listening process. In fact, during interaction,
every speaker plays a double role-both as a listener and a speaker. If
one cannot understand what is said, one is certainly unable to respond.
So, speaking is closely related with listening.
c. Socio-cultural factors
One must know how the language is used in a social context to
speak language. The student had not understood the nonverbal
message, which illustrates that the socio-cultural factor is another
aspect that affects oral communication greatly.
d. Affective factors
These related to second language or foreign language learning is
emotions, self-esteem, empathy, anxiety, attitude, and motivation.
The affective side of the learner is probably one of the most
“important influences on language learning success or failure”.37 One of
affective side is anxiety, this can affect on the language learning. The
students who undergo this anxiety would probably feel uneasiness,
frustration, self-doubt, and apprehension when learning English, in the
high level of anxiety EFL learners become tongue-tied or lost for words in
37 Ibid. ((Oxford, 1990, 140))
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an unexpected situation and this also leads to discouragement and a
general sense of failure.38
5. The relationship between optimism and anxiety
In a study conducted by Buchanan and Seligman learned optimism
techniques were found to significantly reduce depression in a class of
college freshmen.39 Moreover it is states by Darvill and Johnson on
college students revealed that the positive incident were more possible to
happen and negative incident were less possible to happen by the subject
who believe that they were able to manage over even occurrence.40 From
this explanation, it is assumed that the anxiety of students can be solved
by optimism.
However, in the study by Isaacowitz and Seligman said if the
optimism doesn’t do realistic it can be over-optimistic and may block the
performance as an individual may overlook the negative outcomes thus
may not be well prepared for unpleasant situations. 41
6. The relationship between optimism and students’ achievement
According to Scheier and Carver in Owayed research said that
optimism and pessimism play a considerable role in the lives of
individuals in the area of educational, occupational, and psychological
38 Ibid.39 Indoo Singh - Ajeya Jha. Anxiety, Optimism and Academic Achievement among Students of PrivateMedical and Engineering Colleges: A Comparative Study. 2013. Canadian Center of Science andEducation40 ibid41 ibid
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adjustment.42 So that the optimism is consider to give encouragement on
academic achievement. Moreover, According to Seligman in his book
“The Optimistic Child” which adapted by the researcher from the thesis
by Muharnia Dewi said that they were pessimist did the worse occupation
than they were optimist in three aspects: the first, they more often
depressed. The second is their achievement was low in the school, in the
occupational, and the playing field compared with their real talent. The
third is their health is worse than an optimist.43
In the Cambridge dictionary it is defined academic is something
relating to schools, colleges, and universities, or connected with studying
and thinking, not with practical skills. In this research, speaking is
including to academic aspect. In term of speaking is the subject that being
studied by the student in the college.
B. Review of Previous Study
In this part, the researcher will explore the previous study conducted by
other researchers that have similar focus with this study. There are some
studies conducted by the previous researchers which inspired the researcher to
take the study which examine the relationship between optimism with the
42 Freih Owayed El-Anzi, Academic Achievement and Its Relationship with Anxiety, Self-esteem,Optimism, and Pessimism in Kuwaiti Students, vol. 33(1), (2005), pp. 95–104.43 Muharnia Dewi A, Undergraduate Thesis: “Hubungan Self-esteem dengan Optimisme MeraihKesuksesan Karir pada Mahasiwa Fakultas Psikologi UIN Syarif HidayatullahJakarta” (Jakarta: UINSyarif Hidayatullah, 2010), 4.
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speaking achievement in the first-year student in education department of UIN
Sunan Ampel Surabaya, because the researcher saw the similar situation on
the problem faced by students. The early research was from Martin M.
Chemers, Li-tze Hu and Ben F. Garcia, the title is “Academic self-efficacy
and first-year college student performance and adjustment”. Martin discussed
about the problem faced by first-year student. The first-year students often get
the depression in the transition from high school to the college life. To solve
the problem researcher mentioned that self-efficacy and optimism play a big
role in reducing stressful life of college.
The second research was from Brenda Scumacher, the title is “Assessing
the relationship between optimism and academic success”. Brenda discussed
about the association between optimism and academic success as variety of
different studies on optimism and school achievement. By using
questionnaire, Brenda examines 48 high school students to know the level of
dispositional optimism trough their self-efficacy perceptions. The result
showed there is no significant association between grade and optimism scores.
The third is the research from Salmaan F. Toor, by the title “Optimism
and Achievement: A domain-specific and within-construct investigation”
Academic optimism is the general tendency to expect positive outcomes in
terms of personal, current and future academic experiences. Academic
optimism is similar to general optimism with the exception of academic
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optimism’s focus on the academic life domain. The study investigated the
psychometric properties of the newly constructed Academic Optimism Scale
(AOS), as well as the relationships among academic optimism, general
optimism, self-esteem and depressive symptoms in relation to academic
achievement.
The research by Freih Owayed El-Anzi, with the title “Academic
Achievement and Its Relationship with Anxiety, Self-esteem, Optimism and
Pessimism in Kuaiti Students” reveals the findings that academic achievement
has a positive correlation with optimism and a negative correlation with
pessimism. Optimism increase a person ability to tolerate situation and to
solve problems, and it may have an effect on academic achievement.44 The
differences compared to this recent study shows that the research conducted
by Owayed analyzes the relationship among academic achievement with
anxiety, self-esteem, optimism, and pessimism, while this study focuses
hardly on the relationship between optimism and students’ speaking
achievement.
Other study is from Indoo Singh and Ajeya Jha, with the title “Anxiety,
Optimism and Academic Achievement among Students of Private Medical
and Engineering Colleges: A Comparative Study” this study focuses on
44Freih Owayed El-Anzi, Academic Achievement and Its Relationship with Anciety, Self-esteem,Optimism, and Pessimism in Kuwaiti Students, p. 100.
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examining the role of optimism that hypothesized to reduce anxiety and
enhance academic achievement among medical and engineering students.
While this study, focuses on the relationship between optimism and students’
speaking achievement at the first-year of English education.
Finally, the researcher concludes that those all previous studies
significantly have the similarity and differences with this research. However,
those literatures influence this research as the foundation. This research
focuses on analyzing the relationship between optimism and student speaking
achievement at the first-year of English education department UIN Sunan
Ampel Surabaya. In light of differentiating this research with those all
previous studies above the researcher states that the different focus of this
research is on focus skill of study, and also the location of research will be
differentiate the research with those previous research.